Bitcoin Celebrates Ten Years; Coinbase Sets Out to Fix It

Today is a special day for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency which celebrates ten years since it was first introduced to the public. But despite hitting such an important milestone, Bitcoin, one of the biggest technological achievements in recent times, has failed to rally and dropped over $100 in value after a pretty stable week. And as the market signals suggest, the drop may continue over the next few days.

In other news, Coinbase, one of the biggest players in the cryptocurrency trading sector, has set out to use its new funding round estimated at $300 million to resolve some of the problems with the cryptocurrency, Forbes reports.

In a blog post update, Coinbase’s CEO, Asiff Hirji, explained that there are four things Coinbase will be focusing on in the future. Reportedly, the exchange will set out to develop new applications for Bitcoin and other crypto-assets, increase the number of cryptocurrencies available on its platform, help digital coins expand more on a global scale, and also draw in trusted financial institutions into the cryptocurrency sector, particularly the Bitcoin sector.

Bears Take the Lead

Despite the market turning bullish last week, over the past seven days Bitcoin saw a drop in price that drove the coin from a peak of $6,488.52 on Friday morning to a low point of $6,309.46, which was hit on Monday evening. According to market stats, the drop was mirrored by an increase in 24-hour trading volume which jumped over $4 billion as Bitcoin began to decline. Currently, trading volume is at $3.7 billion and rising while the market cap has dropped to $110 billion.

Our technical analysis shows that the market is in a selling mood, with 6 out of 12 technical oscillators and all 12 moving averages sending a “sell” signal. The bearish mood is also mirrored on the 5-hr chart which shows oversold conditions. The hourly charts are asking for consolidation which could probably lead to a rebound towards $6,400, but only if trading volume increases. If the trading winds don’t change, however, expect a further price correction.

From a Breakthrough Idea to World Dominance

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” by the cryptocurrency’s anonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto. Over the course of a decade, this white paper lead to the creation and global expansion of a new form of electronic money, one which caused a real craze during the past two years. Many important moments have helped this milestone to be achieved and today is as good a day as any to remember some of them.

Officially, Bitcoin came to life on January 3rd 2009, when the first Bitcoin block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto himself. Only three days later, the first Bitcoin transaction took place between Nakamoto and Hal Finney and 9 months later the first exchange was opened (New Liberty Standard) which valued Bitcoin for the first time at $1 per coin, Reuters reports.

Over the next year, the crypto sector saw the first use of BTC to buy goods when Laszlo Hanecz spent an unbelievable 10,000 BTC to buy two pizzas. In 2013, Bitcoin grew over $1,000 in value for the first time – a level that wasn’t reached again until 2014. And in December 2017, after a full year of Bitcoin frenzy, the cryptocurrency managed to reach a value of over $19,000, drawing in main investors into the sector and triggering the launch of Bitcoin futures soon after. And the rest, as they say, is history.